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User blog:Julia-B184/Resurgence
97,445 BCE Dreshdae, Korriban Nihilus slowly made his way out from underneath the chunks of rubble that had fallen upon him, shakily positioning himself onto one knee and trying to stay up as he looked out at his home. Or what had once been his home. He had no idea what had caused such destruction, when what felt like moments before it had been a more intact, if still abandoned, site of a Sith Temple. Looking down to himself, Nihilus was shocked at the state that his body was now in. It was still intact, but when he looked closely it seemed like he was made solely of ash and black fog. And he didn't feel quite the same - he almost felt detached from reality, like he wasn't really there. With this in mind, he attempted to stand onto his feet, finding it easier than he had expected it to be. Like he was weightless. With a still shaking hand, he reached up to his head and grasped his faceplate, ripping it off and casting it to the ground. Already cracked from whatever had just happened, it practically shattered once it fell, though Nihilus wasn't very eager to find out how he actually looked given the state of his body. He scanned his environment once more now that he felt more attentive, seeing no other Sith in sight. No Sith, no citizens, no groundskeepers. The only life he could even see was a small flock of avians he hadn't bothered to learn the names of flying in a V formation above the Temple. Unsure of what to do, Nihilus sat down carefully on a flat chunk of rock that had fallen from a pillar. What had happened here? What had left these temple grounds barren and half-wrecked? And why was Nihilus still here, slightly harmed and confused but still here nonetheless? Perhaps there had been an evacuation during an attack and he'd been knocked out. Yes, that honestly seemed like the most likely thing to happen, but one would expect there to be bodies given the damage to the immediate area. This only led him to wonder, if he'd been out... just how long had it been since whatever happened had happened? If nobody was around, what could he do to establish when it was and what was going on? And another question pulled at him as he considered his scenario - what had happened to his body that had him feel detached from reality? Gently standing back up to his feet, Nihilus began to tentatively walk over to the temple in front of him to see if there was any indication of what had happened there. He took his lightsaber from his belt as well, igniting it partly to ensure that it even worked after whatever had happened. The low hum and red glow of his weapon answered that. He carefully made his way to the grand entrance of the temple, the only interruption being the sound of his saber and the howls of the harsh winds across Korriban's rocky surface. Once he entered, the saber also functioned as a source of light, given that any other synthetic light didn't appear to be working. Nihilus couldn't help but wonder why one was functioning and the other wouldn't, but gave no more thought to it. The further he went into the Temple, the more pressing another matter seemed - he felt weaker and weaker with each step. Whatever had happened to his body appeared to have begun taking a toll on him physically. While his mind held up with more success, it also felt like it was deteriorating at a slower rate. Nihilus leaned with one hand against the nearest wall, slowing down as he began to accept the truth. He was dying. Initially, his acknowledgement of the truth began to fill him with rage, and he lashed out against a row of artifacts, lightsaber spears mounted on the wall or the like, with his own weapon. He was Darth Nihilus, destroyer of worlds, Sith Master, and arch-rival of the Ecumene, and this was how he was going to die? Like an old man trudging on as if that was going to get him someplace better? This was even worse than the Flood. The damned Flood... The Flood! With a brief shout, Nihilus harshly punched the wall, losing the composed personality he had before the fall. That was what this was all about! The Forerunners' Halo Array had finally been triggered to combat what they couldn't handle before. And with it, they were taking the Sith down with them! Was this a move of arrogance, or a lack of consideration? Had they no time to leave the untouched Sith out of this? Did they lack confidence in the Sith Empire's ability to combat the parasite and survive? Or was the thought of the galaxy belonging to its rightful owners and not those pretenders unbearable, so unbearable that they would drag the Empire with them, that if they could not have the galaxy, nobody could? They'd tried to tell him. And once he was convinced, he tried to tell the Emperor - the Flood may not be a threat, but the Forerunner countermeasures certainly would be. And they'd scoffed at him, trying to reassure him that the Sith's new yet temporary isolationist policies would keep them safe from the entire conflict. If the Forerunners are weakened by the Flood, they said, all the better for us to take over once this has ended. And look where that had gotten them now, not killed by the Flood as they had feared but something equally as terrible and could not be countered. For all Nihilus knew, he was the only survivor of the entire Sith Empire, the entire galaxy to the best of his knowledge. For what? He had no idea what had kept him alive, as even the Emperor's mastery in the force could not save him. The answer then dawned on the lone Sith - his Holocron was keeping him alive, but even as such he felt himself growing weaker after he had begun to move. He took the small pyramid-shaped artifact from his robes, gazing at it in the glowing red light of his saber. This Sith Holocron, that he'd been sharing knowledge and power with for decades, was now all that kept him alive. Even the array needed time to kill him with this connection. But Nihilus knew that it wouldn't be strong enough to keep him alive forever. Even now his physical form faded more and more, only the Force holding up his saber and the holocron. For a moment, he considered his course of action. Nobody would truly know how he died - what would the harm be in sitting against the wall and letting the inevitable happen? What, really, could he do to save himself? After careful consideration, the Sith Master came to a new conclusion - he wouldn't save himself. No matter what he did, he was doomed to perish, never to return in any form. But the Holocron - the Holocron stored his knowledge and power, an ageless archive of the Sith. He could use this to ensure a resurgence long after he had faded away forever, to give at least something of a chance to future generations to revive the Empire. While Nihilus would wither and die, perhaps what life remained could evolve just as it had before and find the temple. It was a better plan than dying and taking the Sith Legacy with him. Nihilus slowly began to make his way to the Holocron chamber that he'd used so many times before to meditate, struggling to stay up on what passed as his feet. He'd memorized the interior of the temple, where he'd lived for most of his life, and easily found his way there. On the way, he had to avert his gaze from clusters of artifacts that were some of the only current indicators that the Sith had ever existed. He had to put his nostalgia aside - goodness, he really was dying like an old man - as he finally entered the Holocron chamber, no longer having a wall to lean against and having to walk up a small flight of stairs to get to the pedestal. Taking great caution, he gently set his Holocron on the top, watching as it glowed a faint red from inside. With his hand still on it, he did his best to focus on transferring his knowledge to his legacy's lifeline. It wasn't long before Nihilus couldn't go on any longer, though even as he collapsed to the ground next to the Holocron's pedestal, he felt a deep surge of satisfaction. As his lightsaber retracted back into its handle and rolled away from him slowly, the faint glow of the Holocron was all that he could see in his final moments. Now that he knew his work would mean something to the later generations, he felt peaceful. That was how he died. And with his death came the end of an age. But the Sith would live to fight another day. October 2583 Dreshdae, Moraband A low-pitched hiss rang out as the door to a sharp and angled transport extended to the ground. One could then hear the gentle sound of boots against metal and then against dirt as the pilot stepped out, apparently the only passenger as well as they made their way to the grand entrance of the Sith Temple. While it had withstood the test of time surprisingly well, it had also faded somewhat from its former glory, letting light leak in from collapsed sections. The pilot continued through the entrance and down the hallways, occasionally referring to a holographic map that they had on hand to make precise navigation that a foreigner usually couldn't do. The map was quickly shut off once the navigator finally found themselves at the entrance to what they were looking for - the Holocron Chamber of the Dreshdae Sith Temple. They began to walk carefully up the stairs while drinking in the details. The chamber still retained much of its former glory, though a small hole in the ceiling managed to shed light on the less glorious chunks of debris that had found their way there through decay. Though the navigator was snapped out of their thoughts when they noticed a glinting silver, cylindrical object at their foot - the lightsaber of a Sith Lord that had once lived here. A gloved hand picked it up and placed it on their belt next to a somewhat similar one. The same gloved hand began to reach for the Sith Holocron that had waited millennia to finally be claimed. It finally reached the artifact, holding it up to the light to get a better look. The red glow from inside was subdued by the natural sunlight, drawing more attention to the intricate designs and inscriptions on the small pyramid. "Finally." The navigator stepped into the light himself, Moraband's sun reflecting off of Kylo Ren's helmet. Category:Blog posts